Recreating Malzahar Part 1 (The Lore of the Void)
Hi all,
So my recent post (https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/4HYwLIQz-to-those-that-wrote-the-lore-for-malzahar?) has lead me to reread the Lore of the Void and it's associated characters with the aim of creating a Lore accurate, yet gameplay ready, version of my favourate champion: Malzahar.
Over the course of this I felt it would be a good idea to detail this Lore in a separate post, not only to promote interest in the rework I'm going to propose, but also to share Lore that some may not yet have seen. I will be making links here and there to Malzahar specifically including his gameplay, and will include links to the source material I am using if you want to get a bit more detail. I hope you can enjoy this as much as I have writing it and if I miss anything PLEASE let me know; it'll mean there's more for me to read, and upvote to keep this in the recent for more people to read xD
Ok so let's start where it all begins; The Void.
So in the Lore the void is described as a manifestation of the unknowable nothingness that lies beyond. It is a force of insatiable hunger, waiting through the eons until its masters, the mysterious Watchers, mark the final time of undoing. (1) Created at the beginning of the Universe, the void has obviously been there before the Watchers existed, and when they were cast down there by the Iceborn they essentially "took over." The theory that they ARE in fact void creates has some merit as the Lore says it is believed that the first great Void creatures to walk the surface of Runeterra now lie, dormant and unseen. If that is true, then they have waited patiently through the millennia, and it must surely now be time for them to rise once more. (1) and as we know the Watchers are waiting in the Void to return, with Lissandra being "The Seeker" and the spokeswoman for The Watchers, working to bring about their return to the world.
So there's a kind of hierarchy there, but what about the populous? Well we know they are all different, we know they are always hungry, and again there is plenty of evidence to suggest the void itself is a creature that hungers, feeds, and most importantly, STARVES.
One of the few known ways to combat the Void is to starve it. With no organic or magical sustenance nearby, the Void’s material growth will slow, until it eventually falls into a dormant state. (1)
So if the Void is a creature, how does it feed? Well we get a good idea of this both in Malzahar's Lore, and much further back in the fall of Icathia. It starts by crushing it's prey's will with Malefic Visions as described by the Icathian solider Axamuk Var-Choi Kohari Icath’or when looking upon the void stained sky:
Unnatural twilight held sway, and I saw flickering afterimages burn themselves onto the back of my mind. Slashing claws... Gaping maws... All-seeing eyes...I sobbed in terror at the sight of such horrors. Alone of all the things being stripped from me, this I gladly surrender.(2)
Then it wraps tendrils around it's prey and devours them whole:
An abyss that bled purple light tore open amid the Shurimans, and I saw their ivory-skinned general overcome by whipping cords of matter. She fought to free herself with wild sweeps of her blade, but the power we had unleashed was too much for her. The pulsing, glowing light spread over her body like a hideous cocoon.(2)
While some may claim that Malefic Visions are specific to Malzahar and his powers as a Seer, and not the Void itself, I'd point out that in Malzahar's OWN Lore it says nothing about HIM being the source of the visions, but instead places where portals to the Void exist and villagers feeding the creatures of the void:
nearby settlers are said to experience malefic visions grasping at their hearts, and fear gives rise to superstition—even the hardy villagers of the far wastes now make offerings of livestock to appease the voidling creatures below. Little do they know, this only helps Malzahar in shepherding the coming of the end.(3)
This is also backed up in the last sentence Little do they know, this only helps Malzahar in shepherding the coming of the end.(3) as we previously learnt that the only known way to delay the Void is to starve it.
So lets put all of this together. It's made at the beginning of the universe, it feeds off organic and magical sustenance, it can feed and also hold life itself. The Watchers most likely born within it and could be considered it's "children." It calls to people, some to feed on, some to aid it in spreading.
Finally lets look at the Voidborn (Voildings if you prefer): Are they truly ravenous monsters that feast on anything they can see, or are they in fact hunter like ants and bees; carrying home prey to feed their kind?
Well the lore is full of examples of them "carrying away prey back into the void" and remember that the void itself needs to feed and grow or it will become dormant. The voidborn grow as shown by cho'gath and adapt as stated in the Void Lore itself. The most important part of this to consider is stated in this short passage about them:
Some legends suggest that, when they first emerge into the Runeterran air, the Voidborn are generally pale, fibrous and flexible. As they age, sections of their form harden into a darker, shell-like chitin, which can become strong enough to turn aside almost any weapon.(1)
They come out of the void "Flexible." Its a very interesting choice of words here as they are also described in the passage though it has bred many of them, no two horrors of the Void are exactly the same. Their otherworldly forms are as varied as they are terrifying (1) Could flexible refer to their bodies anatomy changing, adapting and evolving to suit whatever the encounter before they have aged? This would explain Rek'Sai's tunneling in the desert, and Kha'zix's own Lore states: The Void grows, and the Void adapts—in none of its myriad spawn are these truths more apparent than Kha’Zix. Evolution drives the core of this mutating horror, born to survive and to slay the strong.(4)
These are just some of the parts to a puzzle of Lore that Riot loves to throw our way, but they do offer a great insight into Malzahar, his abilities, and a character that could be made from such a story. In my next post I will look specifically at Malzahar, his personal journey from Seer to Prophet in Lore.
Sources (1) The Void - https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_GB/region/void/ (2) Where Icathia Once Stood - https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_GB/story/where-icathia-once-stood/ (3) Malzahar - https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_GB/story/champion/malzahar/ (4) Kha'Zix - https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_GB/champion/khazix/